Center for American Progress » Issues » Generalhttps://www.americanprogress.org
Progressive ideas for a strong, just, and free AmericaTue, 03 Mar 2015 21:03:33 +0000hourly1http://wordpress.org/?v=3.9.1-RC1Executive Action on Immigrationhttps://www.americanprogress.org/issues/general/news/2015/03/03/107902/executive-action-on-immigration-3/
Tue, 03 Mar 2015 14:45:47 +0000https://www.americanprogress.org/issues/default/news/2015/03/03/107902//All too often, the everyday, real-life effects of unauthorized status are overlooked in debates about abstract numbers or policies. But a broken immigration system that has more than 11 million people living in the United States without legal status—the vast majority of whom have been here for more than a decade—takes a very real toll on American families. Parents—mostly mothers—have to deal with providing for their children when a spouse is deported, while children face a range of negative psychological and emotional consequences from the fear of having a loved one taken from them.

Based on interviews with 81 families, including 110 young children and 91 parents, my recently published study, Everyday Illegal, documents the concrete and multiple costs to American families as a result of the broken U.S. immigration system. These policies affect not only undocumented immigrants, but also native-born citizens and legal migrants. While there are approximately 11.2 million unauthorized immigrants living in the United States, there are an estimated 16.6 million people living in mixed-status families, generally with undocumented parents and citizen children. These families and their individual members pay a steep price from immigration enforcement, as do all Americans. The stories and quotes that follow are drawn from the interviews that make up Everyday Illegal.

]]>Medicare Payment Reformhttps://www.americanprogress.org/issues/general/news/2015/03/02/107707/medicare-payment-reform/
Mon, 02 Mar 2015 16:48:36 +0000https://www.americanprogress.org/issues/default/news/2015/03/02/107707//The Affordable Care Act, or ACA, included a variety of reforms intended to lay the groundwork for a fundamental shift in how our nation pays for health care, with the goal of rewarding quality, improving outcomes, and containing the growth in costs. Traditionally, as is the case today, most health care payments are made on a fee-for-service basis, which incentivizes overuse, promotes waste and inefficiency, and pays little attention to accountability for quality of care. The ACA offered the opportunity to test alternative payment models that pay health providers based on the value of care rather than volume.

The models implemented under the ACA incentivize health providers to improve patient outcomes and reduce costs through a variety of approaches, including shared savings, financial risk, and enhanced payments for care coordination and service integration. Patient-centered medical homes, bundled payments, and accountable care organizations are key examples of these new models. Combined with requiring providers to reduce hospital readmissions and incentivizing meaningful use of health information technology, or IT, these alternative models are showing promise to meet the goals of improved quality and reduced cost.

]]>Diversity in Americahttps://www.americanprogress.org/issues/general/news/2015/02/27/107627/diversity-in-america/
Fri, 27 Feb 2015 14:39:37 +0000https://www.americanprogress.org/issues/default/news/2015/02/27/107627//Is there anyone yet unconvinced that the United States is changing demographically and evolving, seemingly right before our collective eyes, into a more diverse population of residents?

If so, I challenge that unknowing and unseeing individual to spend an hour or two reading and then reflecting on “States of Change: The Demographic Evolution of the American Electorate, 1974–2060,” an impressive report issued Tuesday by a collaboration of my Center for American Progress colleagues, the American Enterprise Institute, and demographer William Frey of the Brookings Institution.

]]>Public Transportationhttps://www.americanprogress.org/issues/general/news/2015/02/25/107442/public-transportation/
Wed, 25 Feb 2015 14:54:53 +0000https://www.americanprogress.org/issues/default/news/2015/02/25/107442//The Heritage Foundation, never content to promote just one bad idea, has put together something they are calling “The Budget Book: 106 Ways to Reduce the Size and Scope of Government.” Item number 67 on the list calls for eliminating the Federal Transit Administration, or FTA, along with all federal funding for public transportation capital and operating assistance.

This isn’t the first time that conservatives have tried to end federal funding for public transportation. In 2012, the House Republican leadership attempted to pass a surface transportation authorization bill that would have replaced dedicated funding for transit with a one-time, short-term infusion of general fund money. Following a groundswell of popular opposition to this proposal, the leadership was forced to pull the bill and advance a version that maintained dedicated funding for transit programs.

]]>LGBT Communities and the EITChttps://www.americanprogress.org/issues/general/news/2015/02/24/107367/lgbt-communities-and-the-eitc/
Tue, 24 Feb 2015 14:47:50 +0000https://www.americanprogress.org/issues/default/news/2015/02/24/107367//The Earned Income Tax Credit, or EITC, can be modified to specifically help lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender, or LGBT, people, a disproportionate number of whom are living in poverty. The EITC is one of the nation’s most effective tools for reducing poverty. In 2013, the EITC lifted 6.5 million people out of poverty by providing an average credit of around $2,400. This fact sheet explains the EITC and discusses how proposed modifications to improve its effectiveness can help the LGBT community.

]]>Executive Action on Immigrationhttps://www.americanprogress.org/issues/general/news/2015/02/23/107226/executive-action-on-immigration-2/
Mon, 23 Feb 2015 14:53:23 +0000https://www.americanprogress.org/issues/default/news/2015/02/23/107226//One month ago, the House of Representatives passed a funding bill for the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, or DHS, that if enacted, would end the immigration directives announced by President Barack Obama on November 20, 2014. Ending executive action would place 5 million people—the majority of whom are young DREAMers or parents of citizens or permanent residents—back in the crosshairs for deportation.

Putting aside the strong support among American voters for providing a pathway to legal status for these groups, most people do not believe that the United States would have the will or the resources to deport all 5 million potential beneficiaries.

]]>Redesigning Teacher Salarieshttps://www.americanprogress.org/issues/general/news/2015/02/20/107046/redesigning-teacher-salaries/
Fri, 20 Feb 2015 16:28:01 +0000https://www.americanprogress.org/issues/default/news/2015/02/20/107046//William Taylor, 29, a third generation Washington, D.C. resident stands out for a number of reasons. For one, he is an African American man who taught math at an elementary school for many years. Taylor excelled in the role, so much so that he now coaches his fellow math teachers at Aiton Elementary School, which is located in a high-poverty Washington neighborhood. He has also been profiled in the national news—specifically in The Atlantic—where it was noted that, in a typical school year, 60 percent of Taylor’s students start their first day in his class doing math below grade level, but by the end of the year, 90 percent of his students are performing above grade level. For his exemplary work Taylor earned $131,000 in 2013—another factor that makes him stand out as a public school teacher.

In 2013, after seven straight years of extraordinary performance reviews Taylor received a base salary of $96,000, a $25,000 bonus for being a highly effective teacher in a high-poverty school, and a $10,000 award for outstanding teaching and dedication to his work. With the money he’s saved since he started teaching, Taylor recently bought a house in Washington, a city that annually ranks as one of the most-expensive cities in America. He also purchased his dream car: a black Chevrolet Camaro.

]]>American Historyhttps://www.americanprogress.org/issues/general/news/2015/02/19/106950/american-history/
Thu, 19 Feb 2015 14:49:49 +0000https://www.americanprogress.org/issues/default/news/2015/02/19/106950//Whose version of history is worthy to be taught in U.S. schools?

Well, that might depend on your point of view—or your politics. If some conservative lawmakers have their way, only a scrubbed and polished version of our nation’s past will pass muster.

According to ThinkProgress’ Judd Legum, a legislative committee in the Oklahoma House of Representatives has voted overwhelmingly to ban the Advanced Placement history curriculum in the state’s public high schools. These lawmakers are alarmed by what some of them believe is a too liberal version of history being forced-fed to innocent children. Oklahoma State Rep. Dan Fisher (R) introduced the legislation and was quoted in the Tulsa World saying his bill is necessary because the state’s Advanced Placement, or AP, U.S. history course framework puts too much emphasis on “what is bad about America.”

]]>Federal Home Visitinghttps://www.americanprogress.org/issues/general/news/2015/02/18/106830/federal-home-visiting/
Wed, 18 Feb 2015 14:54:39 +0000https://www.americanprogress.org/issues/default/news/2015/02/18/106830//The federal Maternal, Infant, and Early Childhood Home Visiting, or MIECHV, program has supported high-risk families in communities across the country through intensive home visiting services since 2010. MIECHV provides federal funds to support programs that connect families with trained professionals—often nurses, social workers, or parent educators—who help parents acquire the skills they need to promote their children’s development. The majority of MIECHV funds—75 percent—support evidence-based home visiting services that have been rigorously evaluated and have proven to be effective strategies for improving outcomes for families and for saving public resources over the long term.

]]>The Defense Budgethttps://www.americanprogress.org/issues/general/news/2015/02/13/106728/the-defense-budget/
Fri, 13 Feb 2015 14:38:48 +0000https://www.americanprogress.org/issues/default/news/2015/02/13/106728//Released on February 2, the Department of Defense’s, or DOD’s, fiscal year 2016 budget request contains a healthy dose of déjà vu. At $585 billion—$534 billion for the base budget and $51 billion for the Overseas Contingency Operations, or OCO, budget—the total request is historically high. It includes investments in technological innovation, takes steps to realign the force for future challenges and threats, and calls for necessary reforms. But it also overinvests in costly new systems and nuclear modernization.

]]>Weaponized Wordshttps://www.americanprogress.org/issues/general/news/2015/02/12/106684/weaponized-words/
Thu, 12 Feb 2015 14:54:29 +0000https://www.americanprogress.org/issues/default/news/2015/02/12/106684//Lately, I’ve become aware of an increase in the amount of kvetching that surrounds me. Whether online, in private conversation, or in public discourse, people seem eager to express their discontent with one thing or another. Rarely do I hear folks expressing an equal measure of praise or satisfaction for the bounty of people, places, or things that they encounter in their daily lives.

I’m sure you hear the cacophony, too: The weather. Stalled traffic. No Wi-Fi here or there. Taxes. Politicians—Democrats, Republicans, Libertarians, Tea Party members—pick one or all. Immigrants. Old people. Young folks. Minorities. White people. Dare to mention any of these in friendly conversation and I’ll wager a Happy Meal that someone within earshot will pipe up with an angry analysis, typically in more colorful language than it is appropriate to share here.

]]>January’s Employment Reporthttps://www.americanprogress.org/issues/general/news/2015/02/11/106538/januarys-employment-report/
Wed, 11 Feb 2015 14:49:36 +0000https://www.americanprogress.org/issues/default/news/2015/02/11/106538//The longer you spend with January’s employment report—released Friday from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, or BLS—the more you will like it. But just how long that good feeling will last depends on the Federal Reserve.

You could read just the top-line numbers of the report and go home perfectly happy; but this report really gets impressive when you dig deeper into the data. Strong job gains for November and December were revised upward to be even stronger. The noisy month-over-month wage-growth number was excellent, while wages were up 2.2 percent for the year. Most importantly, the economy added another quarter million jobs, even as all four measures of the unemployment rate went up. The addition of new jobs and even more new job seekers means that there is more room to grow before inflation becomes a problem. This is not only surprising; it’s great news—particularly if you’re hoping policymakers don’t choke off a recovery before it gains steam.

]]>Coal Market Distortionshttps://www.americanprogress.org/issues/general/news/2015/02/09/106287/coal-market-distortions/
Mon, 09 Feb 2015 14:47:10 +0000https://www.americanprogress.org/issues/default/news/2015/02/09/106287//The U.S. coal industry is in the midst of a painful transition. The number of coal-mining jobs in the United States has fallen steadily in recent years, a trend that has had a profound impact on communities that depend on the coal industry for employment and tax revenue. Policymakers should manage this transition and ensure that coal communities emerge stronger and more resilient to fluctuations in the coal market.

Numerous market forces are driving the challenges facing the U.S. coal industry. Over the course of several decades, mechanization has progressively chipped away at the number of workers needed to mine a ton of coal. More recently, abundant and cheap supplies of cleaner-burning natural gas have outcompeted coal as the preferred fossil fuel for new electricity-generating capacity.

]]>ESEA Title I, Part A, ‘Portability’https://www.americanprogress.org/issues/general/news/2015/02/06/106201/esea-title-i-part-a-portability/
Fri, 06 Feb 2015 14:39:19 +0000https://www.americanprogress.org/issues/default/news/2015/02/06/106201//In the first days of the 114th Congress, Sen. Lamar Alexander (R-TN)—chairman of the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions—placed K-12 education at the top of his agenda. His goal is to quickly reauthorize the Elementary and Secondary Education Act, or ESEA—currently known as the No Child Left Behind Act—and, ultimately, to dismantle what he calls the “national school board.” Chairman Alexander’s bill—the Every Child Ready for College or Career Act—largely cuts back on the federal role in public education and weakens state accountability to raise achievement and close achievement gaps.

Most egregiously, the bill proposed by Chairman Alexander eliminates the targeting of federal dollars to schools and districts with the highest concentrations of low-income students. This approach ignores the long-known fact that socioeconomic isolation has a devastating impact on student learning and achievement outcomes.Simply put, the challenges that low-income students face are significantly greater when the majority of their classmates are also low income.

]]>Addressing the Wealth Gaphttps://www.americanprogress.org/issues/general/news/2015/02/05/106158/addressing-the-wealth-gap/
Thu, 05 Feb 2015 14:48:26 +0000https://www.americanprogress.org/issues/default/news/2015/02/05/106158//In last week’s column, I wrote despairingly of the persistent wealth gap that exists between white Americans and their neighbors from communities of color—in particular, black Americans. My concerns extended to a dubious hope that our national leaders have the political will to propose and promulgate federal policies targeted to help those most in need.

The column provoked an articulate and thoughtful response from my colleague Christian E. Weller, a Senior Fellow at the Center for American Progress, or CAP, and a professor of public policy at the University of Massachusetts, Boston. Weller challenged my pessimism, noting that his studies of the racial wealth gap have led him to some very promising, albeit targeted, policy prescriptions to assist black households.

]]>Transgender Youth Homelessnesshttps://www.americanprogress.org/issues/general/news/2015/02/03/105921/transgender-youth-homelessness/
Tue, 03 Feb 2015 14:48:30 +0000https://www.americanprogress.org/issues/default/news/2015/02/03/105921//The number of unaccompanied homeless youth in the United States is alarming, with some experts comparing it to an epidemic. Studies indicate that lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender, or LGBT, youth comprise a disproportionate percentage of these young people—approximately 40 percent. In some regions, 25 percent to 37 percent of LGBT high school students are or have recently been homeless. Unfortunately, little research considers the unique experiences of transgender youth, a group that includes minors as well as young people in their late teens and 20s.

The information that is available indicates that transgender individuals experience a range of health and wellness disparities compared with their cisgender peers. Family rejection; inadequate social services; and discrimination in housing, employment, and education make it difficult for transgender young people to secure a safe and affirming place to live. Once homeless, transgender youth too often find that shelters are unwelcoming or unavailable, health care is inaccessible, and law enforcement systems are unhelpful.

]]>Malaysia in 2015https://www.americanprogress.org/issues/general/news/2015/02/02/105802/malaysia-in-2015/
Mon, 02 Feb 2015 14:19:03 +0000https://www.americanprogress.org/issues/default/news/2015/02/02/105802//Last month, President Barack Obama engaged in an unexpected exercise in bilateral relationship building when Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak joined him for a round of golf at Kaneohe Bay, Hawaii. The outing came on the heels of President Obama’s trip to Malaysia last April, making him the first sitting American president to visit the country since Lyndon B. Johnson in 1966.

As it assumes the chairmanship of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, or ASEAN, Malaysia will have an outsized regional presence throughout 2015 and become a focus of the United States’ engagement in Asia. While all ASEAN chairs host a raft of meetings and work incrementally to deepen ties among the members, 2015 is a watershed year for ASEAN: The 10 ASEAN nations have committed to transforming into one “ASEAN Community” with three pillars—cohesive action on political and security affairs, deeper economic integration, and greater sociocultural cooperation—by December 31, 2015. As chair, it falls to Malaysia to make this vision of an integrated ASEAN Community a reality.

]]>Disabled Workershttps://www.americanprogress.org/issues/general/news/2015/01/30/105711/disabled-workers/
Fri, 30 Jan 2015 14:35:21 +0000https://www.americanprogress.org/issues/default/news/2015/01/30/105711//Disability can be both a cause and consequence of economic insecurity. It is a cause because disability or illness can lead to job loss and reduced earnings, barriers to education and skills development, significant additional expenses, and many other challenges that can lead to economic hardship. It can also be a consequence because poverty and economic insecurity can limit access to health care and preventive services and increase the likelihood that a person lives and works in an environment that may adversely affect health. As a result, poverty and disability go hand in hand.

Yet the intersection of disability and poverty is too rarely discussed. In fact, despite the fact that 1 in 5 Americans live with disabilities, the U.S. Census Bureau’s annual report detailing income, poverty, and health insurance coverage did not even include poverty rates for people with disabilities until recently. It does now, and the most recent available data put the poverty rate for working-age people with disabilities at 34.5 percent in 2013, compared with 12.2 percent for those without disabilities.

]]>Labor-Market Opportunitieshttps://www.americanprogress.org/issues/general/news/2015/01/29/105639/labor-market-opportunities/
Thu, 29 Jan 2015 14:25:44 +0000https://www.americanprogress.org/issues/default/news/2015/01/29/105639//Despite the gradual return of the unemployment rate to prerecession levels, some workers still have not benefited from the economic recovery. Even in healthy economies, high rates of joblessness remain a persistent problem for individuals who face severe labor-market disadvantages or barriers to employment. These individuals include people with criminal records, people with disabilities, individuals with limited education and minimal work experience, and opportunity youth—young people ages 16 to 24 who are not in school or working.These workers are often the last to be hired—even in good times—and the first to be laid off in tough times. Other groups—such as the long-term unemployed and older workers— suffered disproportionately during the recession and continue to experience elevated unemployment rates even as the economy recovers and adds jobs.

]]>U.S.-Egypt Relationshttps://www.americanprogress.org/issues/general/news/2015/01/28/105554/u-s-egypt-relations-2/
Wed, 28 Jan 2015 14:46:57 +0000https://www.americanprogress.org/issues/default/news/2015/01/28/105554//In the past year, the fight against the Islamic State of Iraq and Al-Sham, or ISIS, and the nuclear negotiations with Iran have dominated U.S. policy toward the Middle East. But Egypt, as the most populous Arab country, remains a central test in the broader battle to achieve stability and progress in the region. Four years after the start of the Arab uprisings, Egypt continues to face many of the same challenges that sparked the initial protests.

The United States and Egypt should try to work together to build a set of new anchors for progress and stability at this turbulent time of transition in the Middle East. 2015 offers potential opportunities, but it will require Egypt and the United States to learn some lessons from the past four years and to look to the future. The two countries need to move beyond the old way of doing business—a heavy focus on conventional military cooperation—and look to a future where the bilateral relationship includes expanded economic cooperation and a new, more constructive diplomatic and political dialogue.